Last September Queen announced the release of a new enhanced edition of their debut album. “This is not just a remaster, this is a brand new 2024 rebuild of the entire Queen debut album,” said guitarist Brian May at the time. “Every instrument has been revisited to produce the ‘live’ ambient sound we would have liked to use originally.”
And now that reworking has just got… reworked. Yes, Queen have just announced another new edition of their self-titled debut album (retitled Queen 1 for the modern age) with their new take now appearing in an audiophile-friendly Dolby Atmos mix on Blu-ray disc.
The new release is, of course, “limited edition”, with the extra capacity of the Blu-ray format being used to deliver the album in previously unheard of quality, being a 96kHz/24bit master. Both stereo and Dolby Atmos surround versions of the album appear on the disc. Oh, and don’t forget the new 12-page booklet.
Arriving on 13 June, the ‘Special Limited Edition Dolby Atmos Audiophile Blu-ray Release’ (to give it its full title) features Brian May and Roger Taylor acting as executive producers, with the Dolby Atmos mixing and mastering being overseen by Queen’s long-standing audio production team of Justin Shirley-Smith, Joshua J Macrae and Kris Fredriksson.
And the team are promising that their enhanced spatial surround sound mix will “breathe stunning new life into the band’s epic and unique multi-layered sound.”
Of the new release, Justin Shirley-Smith says: “It always feels like Queen’s music was designed for immersive formats. It’s dramatic and powerful and has a lot of dynamics. The original album was recorded more than 50 years ago, but it was so ambitious musically, rhythmically and lyrically.
“It’s beyond belief really, and it’s such a joy for us to work on.”
"There are now a few nice adventurous Easter eggs in there…"
To create the new surround version the team took the stems from their 2024 stereo mix and placed them in 3D space. “It’s always fun working in Atmos because we are confident that the mix is already good from the stereo and this expanded sound field gives us an opportunity to feature the backing track without masking some of the intricate multi-layered elements that Queen are famous for,” explains Shirley-Smith.
“We finished the mix with Lewis Jones at Abbey Road where they have a great mix studio equipped with all the speakers required,” he continues. “Lewis has worked on a great many significant immersive projects and is a crucial part of the Atmos mix team.”
The album was, of course, originally released over 50 years ago, showcasing the new band’s talent and soon to become legendary passion for over-the-top musical flamboyance.
“There are so many different styles on the album,” says Justin Shirley-Smith of Queen 1. “For instance, the song My Fairy King is a precursor to what came later with Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s so adventurous, and this new mix brings out things that you won’t have heard before. Like everything on the album, it sounds fantastic.”
Upon its remix and re-release in 2024 the album regained the ‘lost’ track Mad The Swine – which was recorded in the original recording session but ditched from the album.
"At last… Phew!"
“I'm particularly excited about this new Dolby Atmos version of what we now call Queen 1," says Queen guitarist Brian May. "When the boys were converting the stereo rebuild into a surround experience, I was unable to be there, due to a health hiccup. So I was very happy to have the opportunity to go back in with them recently and add my own contribution to this multi channel mix.
“There are now a few nice adventurous Easter eggs in there, which those who know the album intimately will hopefully enjoy. So the Blu-ray version is an update from the version that has currently been available to stream. Nobody has ever heard our first album quite like this !!!”
“At last,” concludes Roger Taylor, “we get our first album to sound as we imagined it should sound… Phew!”
You can pre-order the new Queen 1 here.
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